FBI Director Kash Patel on Sunday said the agency has launched an investigation into an apparent “elevated hunting stand within sight line of the Air Force One landing zone” in Palm Beach International Airport discovered by the U.S. Secret Service during security screenings ahead of President Donald Trump’s arrival last week.
“Prior to the president’s return to West Palm Beach, USSS discovered what appeared to be an elevated hunting stand within sight line of the Air Force One landing zone,” he told the outlet. “The FBI has since taken the investigatory lead.”
Anthony Guglielmi, a spokesperson for the Secret Service, said its agents “identified items of interest” near the airport as they performed “technology and comprehensive physical sweeps” ahead of Trump’s arrival. The agency is also assisting the FBI’s probe.
A senior official familiar with the investigation told NBC News this is not the typical landing spot for Air Force One but that the president’s plane has been parking in that area because of construction taking place.
Trump traveled to Palm Beach on Friday afternoon, spending the weekend at his Mar-a-Lago estate, before returning to the White House on Sunday. The president has not commented on the discovery as of Monday morning.
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Trump survived two assassination attempts in the lead-up to the 2024 presidential election, including one at a Butler, Pennsylvania, rally that summer when a bullet injured one of his ears. One attendee died in the attack, while the Secret Service killed the shooter.
Less than two months later, he was targeted while playing golf at his West Palm Beach club with a man aiming a rifle at him through the shrubbery that lines the course. The man, who was spotted by the Secret Service before he had the chance to attack the president, prompting his arrest, has since been found guilty on all charges he faced and is due to be sentenced on Dec. 18.